Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Medicaid

Dental Care in Crisis: Tracking the Cost and Prevalence of Emergency Department Visits for Non-Traumatic Dental Conditions
Report explores non-traumatic emergency department visits for dental conditions. Tracks the cost and prevalence of incidents from 2019 to 2022. Includes a breakdown of incidents in rural, small or medium metro, fringe metro, and central metro counties.
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: CareQuest Institute for Oral Health
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Shifting Care Patterns: How Medicaid Policies Shape Family and Formal Care Use
Analyzes the impacts of Medicaid 1915(c) waivers on likelihood of receiving formal versus family care among adults aged 70 years and older with functional limitations, utilizing 2011-2019 National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) data. Highlights the significance of waiver payments for family caregiving for population subgroups including Medicaid beneficiaries, rural residents, and people living with dementia.
Author(s): Johanna Thunell, Elise M. Parrish, Katherine E.M. Miller
Citation: Alzheimer's & Dementia, 21(9), e70715
Date: 09/2025
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Best Practices for Implementing the Continuum of Crisis Services Under Medicaid and CHIP
Provides guidance for states to maintain a continuum of behavioral health crisis care for patients covered by Medicaid and CHIP. Details core elements of the continuum of crisis care and how Medicaid and CHIP function within that framework. Highlights considerations for rural communities.
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
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Ambulatory Care for Individuals Dually Eligible for Medicare and Medicaid
Compares ambulatory services utilization for more than 5.5 million dual and non-dual Medicaid and Medicare individuals. Describes the rural or urban status of the population studied as well as whether services were utilized in a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) or Rural Health Clinic (RHC), among other demographic and service related factors.
Author(s): Joshua M. Liao, Paula Chatterjee, Yueming Zhao, et al.
Citation: Health Affairs Scholar, 3(8)
Date: 08/2025
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Health Provisions in P.L. 119-21, the FY2025 Reconciliation Law
Provides an overview of the healthcare-related provisions of the July 2025 reconciliation law (Public Law 119-21). Offers detailed summaries of provisions that impact Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare, private health insurance, and rural health providers. Discusses the Rural Health Transformation Program.
Date: 08/2025
Sponsoring organization: Congressional Research Service
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Expanding Access to Integrated Medicare-Medicaid Programs in Rural Communities
Discusses the rural population who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid and their unique physical health, mental health, and health-related social needs (HRSNs). Includes information on dual eligibility issues related to access, integrated care, and managed care infrastructure. Provides a literature review and stakeholder interview feedback focused on potential strategies to improve healthcare integration.
Author(s): Molly Knowles, Nida Joseph, Nancy Archibald, Ellen Breslin
Date: 08/2025
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health Care Strategies
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Partners in Progress: Pursuing Medical-Dental Integration in Ohio
Report explores dental health integration into primary care in Ohio and a way to expand oral healthcare access in the state. Discusses access issues in rural area, shortage areas, among Medicaid recipients, and details how integration can help close the gap.
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: CareQuest Institute for Oral Health
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Evaluation of the Maternal Opioid Misuse (MOM) Model: Fourth Annual Report (Implementation Year 3)
Provides an overview of the Maternal Opioid Misuse Model, which provides evidence-based integrated care and care coordination for pregnant and postpartum Medicaid beneficiaries with opioid use disorder (OUD). Describes activities MOM Model awardees undertook during the MOM Model's second implementation year, July 1, 2023–June 30, 2024, and summarizes qualitative and beneficiary-level process data findings by state awardee. Discusses barriers pregnant and postpartum women with OUD face in accessing high-quality, continuous care, specifically in rural areas.
Additional links: Findings at a Glance
Date: 06/2025
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Westat
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Beneficiary and Clinician Perspectives on Medicare and Other Issues: Findings from 2025 Focus Groups in St. Louis, Missouri, and 2021–2025 Rural Focus Groups
Summarizes findings from 8 focus groups of Medicare beneficiaries, Medicare and Medicaid (dual eligible) beneficiaries, and clinicians conducted between April and May 2025, including one virtual focus group of rural Medicare beneficiaries. Compiles findings from 13 focus groups of rural Medicare beneficiaries between 2021 and 2025. Highlights themes that emerged across the focus groups covering Medicare coverage options, access to care, telehealth, organization of care, and prescription drugs.
Date: 06/2025
Sponsoring organizations: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, NORC at the University of Chicago
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5 Key Facts About Medicaid Coverage for People Living in Rural Areas
Provides an overview of Medicaid coverage in rural areas. Includes rural versus urban comparisons of Medicaid coverage, enrollee age, enrollee diagnosed chronic conditions, state-by-state data of Medicaid enrollees by degree of rurality, and more.
Author(s): Rhiannon Euhus, Sammy Cervantes, Alice Burns, Robin Rudowitz
Date: 06/2025
Sponsoring organization: KFF
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